Healthy Relationship Goals Change Everything

What Are Healthy Relationship Goals

Everyone thrives in healthy relationships, whether it is with a family member, friend, or partner. And yet, many people find themselves in unhealthy relationships, with a negative impact on their mental health. So, what defines healthy relationships, and how can you set healthy relationship goals to improve your life?

How To Define Your Healthy Relationship Goals

Healthy relationships are defined as those that do things like:

Build you up instead of tearing you down
Support you in times of need
Are built on trust and love
Offer respect and reciprocation

Healthy relationships should improve your mental health, not detract from it. In a healthy relationship, whether it is a romantic or familial relationship, the other person should talk to you from a place of love and support, even if they are offering advice or constructive criticism. In an unhealthy relationship, that same person might offer criticism or judgment without prompting.

A healthy relationship is one built on trust and respect, such that if you say you need or don’t need something, the other person respects those needs instead of forcing you to comply with theirs. Unhealthy relationships might put you in situations where you feel pressured to do things for the other person because it is what they want, not what you want.

Setting Your Healthy Relationship Goals

One of the most challenging things to learn about relationships is that people treat you the way you allow them to treat you. It’s an uncomfortable thought to look back on relationships that may not have been rewarding or successful and to think that you had a role to play in how poorly you were treated, but we all have the power to set boundaries and to leave relationships when other people do not behave toward us the way they should.

Healthy Relationship Goals 1: Don’t Tolerate Toxic Treatment

Each time a boundary is crossed, or a harmful behavior is tolerated, it sets the precedent that that same thing can occur again. As such, one way to cultivate healthy relationships and mental health, by extension, is to make sure you understand what types of behaviors you expect in your relationships.

For example:

In a romantic relationship, a familial relationship, or just a close friendship, you might expect that people will listen to you. So when you call them to talk about things going on in your life or the frustrations you might be experiencing, you expect them to answer the phone, listen to you, and offer support. But that goes both ways, which means you have to reciprocate and do the same when they need it or ask them how they are doing after you have explained how you are doing.

Healthy Relationship Goals 2: Setting Expectations

When it comes to your relationships and mental health, a great deal of distress comes from not getting the treatment you want but also from not legitimately voicing the treatment you want.

Often, people mistakenly assume that those closest to them will simply figure out or guess how they want to be treated without setting clear expectations. However, healthy relationships come when you voice exactly what your expectations are in any type of relationship so that the other person knows how you expect to be treated, and they can, in return, explain how they expect to be treated.

For example:

In any type of relationship, you might expect there to be some form of equal responsibility. In a romantic relationship, for example, you might expect that whoever is home first from work will be the one to start dinner so that it doesn’t just fall on the shoulders of the same person each night. However, if this is the case, this is something that you have to voice with your partner and come to an agreement about, and it has to be respected.

Building Healthy Relationship Goals 3: Multi Concept Recovery

Multi Concept Recovery offers addiction treatment for those in need in Southern and Northern California. Clients benefit from a state-of-the-art drug and alcohol rehab facility in Redwood City. With semi-private rooms and an on-site client lounge, clients can enjoy downtime in between dual diagnosis treatment for addiction and mental health or CBT sessions.

A big part of the dual diagnosis treatment plans includes chances to work with a therapist to discuss your relationships, how you see yourself, and what you want to gain out of future relationships.

Things like family therapy provide a chance to sit down with those closest to you and talk through issues from the past, like how addiction has affected the family, and learn more about healthy and supportive behaviors during recovery. Our drug rehab in Northern California is here for you.